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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The United States will provide a dozen unarmed aerial spy drones to Pakistan for the first time as part of an effort to encourage Pakistan’s cooperation in fighting Islamists on the Afghanistan border, U.S. defense officials said Thursday. But Pakistani military leaders, rebuffing U.S. pressure, said they planned no new offensives for at least six months.

The Shadow drones, which are smaller than armed Predator drones, will be a significant upgrade in the Pakistanis’ reconnaissance and surveillance ability and will supply video to help cue strikes from the ground or the air.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who is in Pakistan on a two-day visit, disclosed plans for the drones, also known as pilotless aerial vehicles, in an interview Thursday with a Pakistani TV reporter.

Asked if the United States planned to provide the Pakistani military with drones, something it has long requested, Gates replied, “There are some tactical UAVs that we are considering, yes.”

Shortly before Gates’ remarks, the chief spokesman of the Pakistani army indicated that the army would not begin any assault against militants in the tribal region of North Waziristan for 6 to 12 months, pushing back against calls by the United States to root out militants staging attacks along the Afghan border.

The army spokesman, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, told U.S. reporters at the army headquarters in Rawalpindi that Pakistan had to stabilize its gains and contain Taliban militants scattered by offensives already opened last year. “We are not capable of sustaining further military operations,” he said.

The developments underscored the difficulties that President Barack Obama now faces in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Even as the Taliban have stepped up attacks on both sides of the border, the Pakistani army has been reluctant to take on all of its factions in all parts of the country’s tribal areas.

Pakistan, which already has some limited surveillance ability, has long asked for drone technology from the United States, arguing that it should have the same resources to watch and kill militants on its own soil as does the CIA, which conducts regular drone strikes in Pakistan.

U.S. officials have rejected giving Pakistan armed drones. The Shadow surveillance drone appears to be a compromise aimed at enticing Pakistan further into the war and helping the country’s political leadership explain the drone strikes to a deeply suspicious and anti-American public.

“It will have a very positive political impact,” said Talat Masood, a retired general in Islamabad. “It will reduce the embarrassment of the political leadership.”

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